The invention relates to a new system and method of land marking.
Most land surveys are performed utilizing either optical survey instruments or satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) survey equipment. In the case of an optical survey a line of sight must be secured in order to perform the survey. GPS receivers need relatively unobstructed signals from the satellite network or reference stations. However, in some terrain, maintaining a line of sight or signal quality can be difficult or impractical. Specifically, forested areas and hilly terrain provide examples of terrain that can present difficulties utilizing traditional methods of conducting the two types of surveys noted above.
In the case of forested area, ground-based land surveys using optical survey equipment or GPS satellites are difficult if not impossible in areas with trees or other vegetative cover. As such, forest cover must almost always be removed prior to the commencement of a survey of such an area. This requires use of hand-cutting or bulldozing, or a combination of the two. Further, it can be exceedingly expensive, require a significant amount of personnel on the ground and be relatively time consuming. Alternatively, while there are methods of avoiding the need to clear a survey area to provide a line of sight, these avoidance surveys are prohibitively time consuming when conducted through a forested areas. They fail, in most cases, to provide a cost-effective means of surveying and often provide unacceptable surveys accuracy.
Surveys through geographically hilly regions can also present difficulties. In these cases, alternate techniques that are relatively slow and costly must be employed to compensate for the inability to maintain a line of sight or a GPS reference station signal through such regions. The techniques include alternating optical survey methods, and, in some cases, incorporating inertial/GPS and barometric surveys.
Surveys encountering swamps or muskeg terrain conditions or other geographically difficult terrain including ditches, ravines, fence lines, streams or rivers, buildings etc. can be expensive, dangerous and/or time consuming. In the case of swamp or muskeg terrain, any planned surveys are, in many cases, postponed until the terrain of such areas has frozen. Of course, this further assumes that this is an environmental possibility in the area of interest.
In the case of geographic variability over a survey area, such as ditches, ravines, fence lines, streams or rivers, buildings, by way of example, a survey team must, at the same time, negotiate these obstacles during a survey. This slows the survey substantially.
The present invention provides a new system and method incorporating a land marking device for land marking that helps to address some of the disadvantages and limitations noted above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new system and method of land marking.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerial land marking system. The marking system comprises: a) an aircraft capable of hovering above a selected area on the ground; b) a land-marking device capable of being suspended from the aircraft, the land-marking device capable of marking a survey point on the ground, c) a GPS (global positioning system) receiver capable of being suspended from the aircraft and situated above the land-marking device when thus suspended, the GPS receiver being capable of receiving position data, and d) a computer communicatively connected to the GPS receiver and the land-marking device for calculating and storing coordinates of the marked survey point.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of aerial land marking. The method comprises steps of: a) positioning a land-marking device and a GPS receiver over a survey area by means of an aircraft, b) lowering the land-marking device and the GPS receiver such that the GPS receiver is situated above the land-marking device, c) activating the GPS receiver whereby the latter receives position data, d) securing a marker at or near a survey point of the survey area by using the land-marking device, and e) calculating and recording coordinates of the marked survey point.
One of many advantages of the system and method of land marking is that it provides a surveying system and method wherein a GPS signal may be maintained from the air and used to record a location of interest on the ground while the land marking device provides a marker at or near that location. This is useful in a forested, obstructed or hilly area survey area. Costs of such a survey should be reduced in so far as costs arising from the requirement to remove physical obstacles obstructing a line of sight or GPS signal quality are eliminated. For example, when surveying in a densely forested area, timber need not be cleared prior to the survey. This can result in savings on the order of several thousands of dollars per kilometer of surveyed area. Moreover, this results in significant environmental benefits as well as economic benefits. Also, the time required to conduct the survey through an area heavily forested or defined by hilly geography is greatly reduced.
Also, the method and system for aerially marking the ground using the subject invention is quicker and competitive with ground-based surveys where geographic obstructions arise on a survey site that slow ground-based crews. The use of the air-based land marking device will result in a survey that is not affected by difficulties in accessing and maneuvering through surveyed locations with obstacles, such as swamps, ravines, streams, buildings, fences, rivers, ditches, etc. The ground staking device is capable of laying out and recording a large amount of survey data in difficult or variable terrain in a relatively short time period when compared with conventional ground-based survey instruments. It is estimated that the land marking device, when used in association with an aircraft, provides for a surveying method wherein an area can be surveyed in a fraction of the time required to conduct a ground-based optical survey with little or no penalty in the accuracy of the resulting survey.
The land marking device can be utilized in many contexts, such as, by way of example, the oil and gas industry, civil engineering, mining and forestry. It can be applied, for example, to marking and/or surveying of boundaries, pipelines, oil/gas leases, seismic lines, open pit mines, roads, creek crossings, ordinary land features, etc. It can be used in all applications when land marking and/or surveying is carried out using traditional measuring and marking devices.